Emunah Afula’s children, who were brought to us through the Child Welfare services, often under emergency circumstances, have suffered the ordeals and traumas of parental abuse, neglect and a dysfunctional family environment which has left them with deep emotional wounds at a tender age. We handle some of the country’s most horrifying cases of child abuse by serving our children’s basic, emotional, educational, therapeutic and social development needs.
Emunah Afula’s Therapeutic Center offers therapies for emotional and functional disorders on various complex levels, that are given individually and in groups by certified therapists. The therapeutic staff includes a psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker and drama, art, clinical communications and animal therapists.
Drama Therapy
Children make an easy transition into the world of imagination. Children are happy to wear disguises and use accessories. The main advantage of play is to bypass defenses. The child plays as “someone else” in play space that enables him/her to answer the therapist questions through play, therefore, expressing hidden feelings. This helps to deal with the ghosts of their past. The drama therapy process brings the child to a state of positive awareness that results in emotional and behavior change.
Art Therapy
Art therapy is a means of emotional support using expressive and creative tools to nurture the soul. Children who do not respond to conventional therapy, find that drawing pictures helps them to tell their stories. They feel free and released from pressure enabling the art therapist to work with them in order to overcome their painful past.
Animal-Assisted Therapy
The basic characteristic of pets is their acceptance of every person whoever he is, regardless of his physical, emotional or mental state. Pets give unconditional love and enable people to express their love for others. Animal-assisted therapy is most suited for children with attention deficit disorders, learning difficulties, behavioral problems, emotional problems and even children who have trouble making social connections. Children relate their abusive stories by talking about the animal. For example, a child that was beaten by his/her parents will want to put an animal in cage to protect it from getting hurt.
Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive Behavior therapy (CBT) is a short-term therapy that enables the creation of changes in undesirable behavior through new behavior exercises.
CBT targets three related ways in which children at risk respond to different circumstances: • Cognition (thinking) • Affect (feeling) • Behavior (doing).
CBT encourages positive behavior patterns through exercises in therapeutic tasks.
Emunah Afula’s children receive training in techniques that help them to identify, express, and manage emotions appropriately (e.g., anxiety management, anger control).
Social Clowning
Therapeutic-medical clowning is a means of therapy using talents from the theatric arts field. Humor and laughter helps to connect with children at risk by relieving their pressures, fears and improving their mood. This contributes to their healing process.
At Emunah Afula, we have developed a social clowning class. “Meme the Clown” has a degree in Community Therapy Theater from Haifa University, she is an actress who excels in theater and leads group discussions in theater and medical social clowning for the Dream Doctors non-profit organization.
A social clown can identify, locate and provide care for Emunah Afula’s children in diverse complex situations. Aside from the therapeutic benefit it provides, social clowning brings smiles and laughter to everyone and generates an atmosphere of optimism and happiness.
